A Family Affair: Book Two
by Lexie Jayne
Summary: After the events of 'A Family Affair: Book One' Jondy and Zack try to deal with their feelings for each other and Manticore poses a threat over all the remaining rogue X5s. (New: Complete)
1. Crush

AN: Rewritten and better than ever. Inspired by Girltype and Ashantai I am turning over a new leaf and rewriting all FA chapters. Anyways, FA2 is nearly over. Sad, sad. About 3 more chapters I think, then we'll start FA3 by mid May I think. Well, that's the plan.  
  
Review! I'm currently working on rewriting the rest of FA2, so I need critisim!  
  
****************  
  
  
  
*Beep *  
  
*Beep *  
  
*Beep *  
  
"Damnit," Jondy swore, rolling over and slapping the 'snooze' button on the clock radio. Only when she wanted to sleep, did her clock radio actually  
  
work.  
  
Jondy buried under the covers, hoping she could doze off again…but she was uncomfortable. She hadn't bothered to change her clothes last night and from past experience, Jondy knew jeans and tank tops were hell to sleep in.  
  
Beep  
  
beep  
  
beep.  
  
Jondy slapped her clock radio again. Nope, this wasn't the clock radio. This was her cell phone. Damn the person who was ringing her at this hour. Damn them to Manticore. She reached for her phone and dialled into her voice mail  
  
"Jondy, it's Max. Can you come to Logan's tomorrow? I think we should all discuss this…"  
  
'Discuss my sex life?' Jondy sighed and continued to listen to the voice mail. So much for the loving, caring, non judgemental siblings she thought she head. Though Zane was slurring his words and loud music drowned Syl and Krit out during their messages. But Tinga and Max…both were very open about how they felt about seeing Jondy and Zack in the alley way last night…  
  
Hence the very *minor * hangover Jondy currently had. Alcohol was evil, she decided, tossing her phone onto the pillow beside her and curling up again. Last night had been good – excellent, in fact – before Tinga and Max had barged in during Zack and her 'bonding' time.  
  
'Maybe I could just sleep until noon…by then, Zack would've sent everyone on their way and I can avoid the nasty family intervention,' Jondy thought drowsily. Damnit, the alcohol had made her sleepy, a bad, bad side affect for her.  
  
Sleep…  
  
'…We can make happy, messy love.' Jondy's clock radio came to life with another pre pulse song that Jondy was so fond of.  
  
"Okay, okay, the clock radio wins," Jondy moaned, getting out of bed and walking into the bathroom. Her clothes were crushed beyond wear-ability and her hair resembled something very…evil.  
  
"I think I preferred my hair brown or maybe that red colour," Jondy muttered to herself, turning on the shower. Longer the shower she took, longer she could put off seeing Max and Tinga. She winced as she remembered the look of betrayal and hurt – and disgust – that were across their faces.  
  
'Oh, I'm just gonna turn up and get the whole Max-and-Tinga-yelling thing over and down with,' Jondy decided, going through her bag, looking for clothes.  
  
Last night, she and Zack had been making out in the alley, when Tinga had physically thrown Zack off Jondy. The fact that both Jondy and Zack looked as guilty as hell when they were caught didn't make Tinga and Max's reactions any better. In fact, Jondy speculated, the guilt probably made it worse. The shouting match that had ensured after Zack had picked himself up and come back over had to have woken at least 25 American states.  
  
And to make Jondy's day even *better *, Zack had been the one to grab her stuff and there wasn't really anything she could wear to Logan's – being the snob he was. Jondy was more of the bohemian/thrift shop variety. She pulled on an old pair of jeans and a tie dyed peasant top and attempted to do something with her hair – she couldn't wait till it was long again.  
  
Grabbing her stuff, Jondy locked the flat door. Logan had arranged it for her once he found out they were coming – nice place, actually.  
  
Pulling on her coat, Jondy began the two-sector walk to Logan's place.  
  
Her coat really was a nice one – knee length, brown leather, lined with sheep skin. She'd stolen it a while back, in New York City. She'd made some good steals in NYC. Most of her nice clothes came from NYC.  
  
Boston was okay in small doses, but Jondy wanted to live in LA or NYC like it was pre Pulse. She loved paging through old pre Pulse magazines and trying to make the clothes she saw in magazines. Seventies style dresses, flared jeans, denim jackets…Jondy owned some variations of these things she'd made or found in a thrift shop. Or stolen, of course.  
  
Foggle Towers loomed ahead, like a death sentence.  
  
'Oh, for crying out loud, Jondy! You're being childish! This is your family. You'll argue, Zack's lecture and everyone will go home and life will be normal,' she mentally said.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
The tension in the penthouse was so thick, you'd need a machete to cut it, Zack decided. He'd arrived just after Max and Tinga and the atmosphere was tense. Syl and Krit had arrived, their usual wacky selves, and instantly become solemn too. Zane had walked in, sat down and began reading some magazine about genetic engineering.  
  
Logan had been extremely off hand with Zack, like he was personally blaming Zack for every problem in the world today.  
  
Finally, Jondy breezed in, just after Logan tensely offered Zack a cup of coffee. 'He'd probably charge me for it,' Zack thought bitterly, after he refused the coffee.  
  
She looked tired and reasonably pissed off, which cheered Zack up immensely. 'No one messes with Jondy when she's mad,' he thought, as she sat down next to him. 'I learnt that lesson the hard way.'  
  
She accepted Logan's offer of orange juice, after cheerily telling him that post-Pulse coffee, even the expensive stuff, worked like acid after a certain amount. Cheerful about everything, Jondy is.  
  
"So," she said. "What's the problem?" Zack's arm slid around her shoulders.  
  
"Zack, Jondy. It's pretty obvious to everyone what's going on," Max spat, anger all over her face.  
  
"Uh, can you remind me what was going on?" Zane asked, sheepishly. Tinga shot him a venemous glare.  
  
"I was drunk! You rang, I didn't quite follow!"  
  
"Fine. Syl and Krit leave last night. Jondy leaves. Zack leaves. Max and I clean up and walk outside to  
  
Jondy and Zack…" Max made a gesture. "Groping each other up against a wall."  
  
"I haven't actually worked out how it's any of your business," Jondy retorted.  
  
"How could you Jondy?" Tinga burst out, with a half disgusted, half pitying look. "This is so wrong!"  
  
"How could I do what?" Jondy demanded, leaping to her feet, glaring at her sister. "I haven't done anything wrong."  
  
"Zack?" Max cut in from across the room. "You chose Zack? Where you in heat or something?"  
  
"Unlike you Max, I actually have self control when I go into heat," Jondy snarled.  
  
"So you were completely rational when you slept with your brother?"  
  
"News flash, Maxie, he ain't my brother. Not emotionally, biologically or any way. In fact, I can safely say I have no living biological siblings." She crossed her arms, daring Max to continue.  
  
"That's right. I remember it was your fault Justin died."  
  
"Back off, Max," Zane snapped. "You have no right to point the blame."  
  
"Typical," Max retorted. "You'd come to Jondy's rescue, trying to 'protect her' because you two  
  
weren't strong enough to save her brother. Notice how Zack isn't defending you, Jondy?"  
  
"Well," Krit stood up. "If we're pointing blame about deaths – who killed Ben? Why is Eva dead?"  
  
Max went pale. "Ben asked me to kill him," she said quietly. "Eva is dead because Zack wasn't a good CO."  
  
"Shut up!" Tinga yelled. Syl was watching the exchange like a tennis match. Logan looked reasonably concerned.  
  
Jondy rolled her eyes. "Again, Maxie, you're missing the entire point. I so don't understand what the big issue is here or why it involves anyone else except me and Zack. Sure, it probably was disturbing for you to see Zack with a girl. I know it creeped me out when I saw Zack with his first girlfriend. So, it boils down to this – I got a guy. You don't like the fact that your brother figure hooked up with your sister figure."  
  
"C'mon," Syl spoke up. "That'd even screw me up. And that's saying something."  
  
"Jondy! Besides the fact Zack is our brother, it isn't that you got a guy or not. It's the fact you both went behind our backs – it's disgusting!" Max had a revolted look on her face. "Zack has the emotional accessability of a brick!"  
  
"Why is it so disgusting, Max?" Jondy yelled back. "I fell in love with Zack and for some reason you can't cope with it. Even as a kid you had to be the center of attention!" Silence.  
  
"Jondy, Zack's capability to love was beaten out of him as a child," Max put her hand on her sister's shoulder. "C'mon, I think tons of completely normal guys could go for you- You deserve better."  
  
Jondy watched a hurt look spread across Zack's gorgeous features. "How dare you," Jondy spat, facing Max. "How can you go and say that about a man who has saved your life on more than one occasion? He escaped because YOU had seizures. You used to treat me like some little minion of yours who wasn't good enough for you. It was always Max, Max, Max back at Manticore – never Tinga or Syl or Brin or me. I think it's time you let me live my life the way I want to."  
  
Everyone stared at her, mouths open. Max stepped backwards, an unhappy look across her face.  
  
"Jondy, I…"  
  
"Don't Max…" Jondy snapped.  
  
"I'm trying to look out for you," Max swallowed. "All of the times I've seen Zack this past year, he's tried to come onto me. I know you don't deserve that, Jay," Max put her hands on her hips.  
  
Jondy blinked, getting annoyed. "What?" To everyone's surprise, she sounded more annoyed than upset.  
  
"Every time Zack has visited Max in the last year," Logan spoke up. "He's tried…he's tried to hook up with her."  
  
"What?" Jondy turned to look at Zack, hands on hips and glaring. "Explain, Zack?  
  
"Dee, it wasn't like that…I wasn't trying to…" Zack began, standing up.  
  
"Then how was it, Zack?" Logan broke in. "Explain it to me; a lowly human." Logan's glare was fuming.  
  
"I remember a certain night in Logan's cabin, Zack," Max said icily. "Do you…?"  
  
"Shut up, Max" Jondy rose her voice. "Look, this isn't getting us anywhere. I'm not going to hang around here with my life choices being critisized, okay?" She stood up, grabbed her bag and made her way to the door in one fluid motion.  
  
"Jondy," Max protested. "Wait…look, I'm sor…"  
  
"Max, don't you think you've said enough?" Jondy asked softly. "I'll see you later guys." She hugged Zane, Krit and Syl.  
  
"I'm sorry, Tinga. I just don't understand what I've done wrong," Jondy whispered softly in her sister's ear as she hugged her.  
  
"Jondy?" Zack said. "See you back in Boston before you go back to Vancouver?"  
  
"Jondy?" Zack said. "Check in with me before you head back home?"  
  
Jondy nodded and turned. Zack's apartment was in Boston and she was currently located in Vancouver. 'Vancouver is getting old,' she thought. 'Maybe Newy York? Or Los Angeles?'  
  
As Zack watched Jondy leave, his instincts told him to go after her and tell her to go back to Boston with him. He shook his head and returned to listening to the accusations that were being thrown about. 


	2. Chain Reactions

*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
After Jondy had down some shopping, she headed towards a bus, leading out of Seattle. Jondy slipped aboard and into a back seat. A tall man, a sector police guy, approached her. "I'll need to see your checkpoint pass, miss."  
  
Jondy leant over her backpack, stuffing in her 'purchases' - she'd followed a girl who had bought them and 'borrowed' a couple when she didn't notice. Pulling out her pass, she handed it to the guy. "There you are," she smiled sweetly. //Piss off.//  
  
The man examined the pass and wordlessly handed it back to her.  
  
//Thank god. You'd think he'd pick up on the fact Zack forged these,// Jondy sighed. Zack would expect her to leave the city by a stolen motorbike. Not by public transport. This bus would take her to Portland, then a stolen vericle to Nevada. She just needed a break. Living with Zack had been one city to another, watching everything that went on; leaving perfectly good jobs and apartments to go to towns with no work and nowhere to hole up.  
  
A bit of a break would do them both good, especially now, after Jondy's short return to Manticore about a month ago - Zack had saved her single handedly, and that had started this stupid romance.  
  
Jondy curled up in a ball, using her jacket as a pillow and went to sleep - since her return from Manticore; she'd been sleeping a lot more.  
  
It would be a long trip, especially with the traffic in this area of Seattle.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Zack dialled Jondy's beeper for what seemed like the millionth time this week. "This beeper is out of range or does not exist. Please try again later."  
  
Zack threw his mobile phone down in anger. He was half way to Boston now, and Jondy hadn't contacted him - in fact, this last thing anyone had heard her say was some flippant remark about going shopping.  
  
Zack continued driving. Of course, now everyone knew about him and Jondy, there was no stopping them - Syl and Krit had hooked up quicker than an X5 could blink. Tinga was taking Zane back to Portland to live with her and Charlie until he was back on his feet. And Zack was left to find Jondy all on his lonesome.  
  
His apartment was here, outside Boston, was a very empty place, with newspaper clippings and coffee cups lying about. Zack dumped his bag and turned around to find some crackers, to find a piece of turquoise coloured message paper.  
  
"Hey baby, dropped in and you weren't here, so I headed out again. I'll call you sometime next week, okay? Love Jondy."  
  
Slipping the note into the pocket, Zack turned to go and find some food in town. He was starving.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
AN: I lost this chapter when my sister wiped the disk for her Gilmore Girls fic! So, this is a rewrite.  
  
Jondy was bored. And pissed off. And lonely. And, of course, broke. *I miss Zack, * she thought, eating breakfast - left over pizza and Chinese. * But the bastard hit on my - our - sister! While sleeping with me! *  
  
*But think of all the think of all the things he's done for you! * The little voice in her head reminded her.  
  
//Jondy slumped in the corner of her cell. * My name is Jondy. I am Jondy. I'm gonna get out of here again. My sibs will save me. *//  
  
//"Jon, breathe through your nose," Zack ordered, sliding the mask over her face. "Calm down. I won't let them take you back."//  
  
//Jondy held the gun shakily in front of her, gazing at the wounded X7 clone lying, injured, on the ground. //  
  
//"Don't think you'll ever leave here again, * Jondy *," Madame Renfro laughed. "There is no way I'm letting you escape again. Remember, Manticore learnt from its mistakes."//  
  
// "Get away from my sister." Zack snarled at Brin, Jondy unconscious in his arms. //  
  
Jondy groaned, standing up. "I guess I'm heading back to Boston," she sighed, grabbing her coat and backpack.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Max sat around with Logan and the others. They'd all left when Zack had, but regrouped the minute he was gone.  
  
"I honestly don't believe it," Max shook her head in disgust.  
  
"He goes on and on about us being separate and he goes and hooks up with Jondy!" Krit exclaimed, smearing mustard on a slice of cold cheese pizza.  
  
"You are gross," Syl replied.  
  
"It's want you love about me," Krit grinned back at her.  
  
"All he did was yell when I hooked up with Charlie and had Case - 'phoney sentimentality' was the only thing he said," Tinga said, looking cross. "And he's getting it on with my younger sister!"  
  
"He kept hitting on me and telling me to get out of Seattle," Max replied, from the 'niceness' of Logan's lap. "That I didn't need anything except my sibs."  
  
Zane lifted a fork full of chicken and rice to his mouth. "Personally, I couldn't give a stuff one way or another what - or in this case, who - Zack does now. I was completely pissed when I called Jon's voice mail."  
  
"Good to know," came a scathing reply. "Anyone seen Jondy?" Zack asked, glaring at them. 


	3. Thinking

I just wrote this straight, so I apologise if some facts – like Jondy's hair colour or length – are a bit messed up.  
  
I'm concerned that my writing ability ..sucks, so I'd love so encouraging feedback, to help me churn out the rest of this story and the sequel (…OMG)  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Jondy sat on the porch of her flat, waiting for her hair to dry in the sun, while reading a magazine. She was bored. Again.  
  
*Ten steps to the thinner you! How to know when your guy has lost interest,* Jondy sighed, running her fingers through her hair – every time Zane saw her, he commented on it's current state of blonde and short – ness.  
  
*I guess I'm betraying him in a way, * she sighed, slipping her sunglasses on. * Maybe I should think about this for awhile. *  
  
But she didn't need to think – to Zane she'd always be his best sister – a brunette. Then, after the escape, she'd be the awkward, lanky girl who he'd teamed up with the steal a couple of .45 and a bag of cocaine to sell for the next month's rent.  
  
Justin's twin sister.  
  
Jondy opened her eyes. She hadn't thought about Justin in a very long time.  
  
  
  
//"X5s report to barracks for lights out," came Lydecker's loud order. Jondy looked ahead of her, knowing Lydecker was leading them through the basement – their fear of the Anomalies, in his opinion, was irrational.  
  
"Sssh," Zane whispered at her side. "Wait til he's gone and then we'll run."  
  
Jondy huddled closer to Zane, looking for Justin up front – he was usually paired off with Eva. Syl and Krit, Tinga and Ben, Max and Zack, Justin and Eva, her and Zane, Jace and Brin…  
  
Only, Lydecker watched as they matched past the cages. He made Jondy and Zane stand further apart and made sure no one walked too fast. Jondy tried not to cry out for Zane or Justin or Zack. The Anomalies were dangerous, Lydecker had taught them that – the X1s had developed a taste for human blood and this trait had been passed on all the way to the current X6s…  
  
Jondy paused in front of a cage…'X5-771'. She had never noticed this cage was full before…but Jax. Jax had gone months ago and never returned. No one else ever commented on it – except Max, once, but Zack told her something and she never mentioned the girl with almost her name again.  
  
"X5-210, do you want to be thrown in there with your 'anomaly' sister?" Lydecker came up behind her.  
  
A group of twelve X5s paused on the stairs, watching the whole thing.  
  
"Sir, no sir!" Jondy cried in a quiet voice.  
  
"You disobeyed direct orders," Lydecker said. "X5-211, retrieve the rest of the squadron."  
  
Justin hurried away, to the barracks, to fetch the other thirteen. They all hurried back down the stairs and lined up in front of Jax's cage, looking worried…except Juls, he looked…nasty. He had it in for the X5-1s – Zack's half of the squadron.  
  
"X5-210 disobeyed direct orders – to return to the barracks – to stare at a scientific abnormality- X5-771." Lydecker punched in a number on the electronic lock and pushed Jondy into the cage. "Anyone else who was considering not going straight to the barracks after lights out can join X5- 210 and X5-771." Justin and Zane both stepped forward. //  
  
Jondy blinked, looking down. Two extremely hot guys were waving up at her.  
  
"Ahh, you must be the illusive Juliet I've been looking for my entire life!" one yelled, holding a hand over his heart.  
  
Jondy laughed, ridding her mind of the dark thoughts of her lost brother.  
  
"May we come up and introduce ourselves?" the second called, winking at her.  
  
She laughed and leant over the rail. "Sure, why not? Bring up some beer, why don't you?"  
  
She knotted a sarong around her bikini and went inside to wait for the two guys.  
  
*Stuff Zack, I can't make my own fun, * she thought wickedly, a smirk spreading across her face. A knock sounded at the door and Jondy got up.  
  
Both guys were better looking up close. * Give Zack, Krit and Zane a run for their money, * Jondy noted.  
  
"Ahh, the illusive Juliet. Behold, my name is Julian. Obviously we were meant to be together," the first one said, kissing her hand. Tall, bronzed and light brown hair – darked than Zack's, lighter than Krit's. And eyes – smaller than normal, but an excellent shade of chocolaty brown.  
  
"Ahh, it is not so," Jondy laughed "My name is Jondy. Jondy De Luca."  
  
"Miss De Luca," the second one, led her inside. "I am Jason. Excuse my acquaintance for being so rude and not introducing me before he so boldly invited himself in."  
  
Jondy led them through her tiny, messed up flat – but the size of the balcony made up for that – second floor, big enough for a table and four chairs.  
  
Mmmm, two honeys, a hot afternoon, whatever shall I do? Jondy thought satisfied, snatching a beer and listening to the talk about their trip to Europe. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. 


	4. Flashback: Jax and Justin

AN: I'm taking Jax's behaviour from the Nomalie we saw in Pollo Loco and all. Just say she went really spazzed in a really shot time (  
  
  
  
//Lydecker looked at the two eight year olds that stood before him – DNA brother and Male clone of X5-210. What did Squadron 1 call them? …Zane and Justin?  
  
"It's good to know you're all so honest," Lydecker, swung open the door and both boys hurried in.  
  
"Lydecker's afraid of Jax," Justin murmured. A hand touched his hand.  
  
"What's wrong with Jax?" Jondy whispered. "Why is she an anomaly?"  
  
Suddenly, bright lights appeared in the dark cell – well, the very dull, dimmed lights seemed bright. The X5s gathered around the cage door.  
  
*Cell door, * Jondy corrected herself mentally.  
  
Something detached itself from the shadows and approached them.  
  
"Jax?" Zane demanded.  
  
It dove at them and they leapt to the side. Jax. Hunched over, her navy blue eyes insane and her once non-existent hair a tangled nest above her ears.  
  
She gazed at the once familiar faces and narrowed in on the smallest one. Jondy.  
  
Jax coiled her body in a ball and launched herself through the air, towards Jondy, fully intending to rip off her face and devour it in one mouthful, because eliminating the boys.  
  
Jondy screamed in terror, shielding her face with her hands. The X5s recoiled at the sound. No one ever expressed a sound of joy or fear or pain outside the barracks; and it had only happened on one occasion in the barracks when Jondy witnessed Max's first seizure.  
  
Justin yanked Jax out of the air and threw her against the wall. Zane pulled Jondy over towards him, so she wouldn't have a wall blocking her escape if Jax attacked again.  
  
Lydecker turned to the outside X5s. "X5-771 developed a disease traced through to be what destroyed the X1 series, cause the untimely deaths of 90% of X2, introduced new DNA techniques for X3 and has struck X4 and X5 prototypes with certain types of feline DNA," he said. "X5-771 'animalistic' tendencies took over her brain and drove her insane. She no longer recognises Manticore personnel as people to be obeyed, but as her rations." Lydecker turned back to watch the three X5s.  
  
They worked well together. In sync and agreed on battle techniques.  
  
His little speech about X5-771 would be taped off the security speakers later – it was perfect for the remaining X3s to study. The X5s never retained any of the information he told them about the 'anomalies' – they had that irrational fear of being one.  
  
Ben watched with wide eyes at Jondy, Zane and Justin warding off Jax. His friend. She used to curl up with him and tell him stories. Give him her blanket or jacket when he got cold. Watched out for him when Zack was in a mood.  
  
Jondy heard Zane hit the floor as Jax leapt towards him; more like a predator than any of the X1s – they had eventually eaten their own flesh out of desperation and starvation. Jondy yanked Jax backwards by the leg so hard, she heard the knee pop and a bone snap. Her satisfaction was short lived; Jax span around and sand her teeth into Jondy's forearm.  
  
Ben paled. Jax went mad which made her kill her siblings. She bit Jondy. Now Jondy was an anomaly. Jondy was an anomaly.// 


	5. Echoing

Zack sat in a corner of the dark café, pushing his food around on his plate. Jondy had brought him here when she first came to Boston – Zack stuck to Chinese take out back then or he cooked himself and Jondy finally dragged him out. They'd wandered around Boston for hours – looking at the lights, in the shop windows and finally, coming to this café and eating what Jondy proclaimed 'was one of the best meals she'd ever had.'  
  
Antonio had been a waiter at this café for over ten years and recognised Zack as the man who accompanied the pretty blonde girl with the drastically short hair. He always enjoyed serving them - she praised the food and chattered away at everybody and he sat there, eyebrows raised as if to say 'Are you quite finished?'  
  
An odd match. But both well known in this café.  
  
"And how is your lady tonight?" Antonio asked Zack, as he cleared the table. "Well, I hope."  
  
"Um, she's not in Boston any more," Zack said, taken aback.  
  
"Lovers tiff?" Antonio said sympathetically, in his thick Italian accent.  
  
"Sort of. More like family problems," Zack sighed, handing Antonio his credit card.  
  
"You must go and find her and bring her back here," Antonio said, as they walked over to the cash register and Antonio got the bill. "Such a charming girl. A breath of fresh air."  
  
"Yeah, Jondy is," Zack said absently then snapped back to attention and signed the credit card receipt.  
  
"Thank you, Mr…" Antonio looked at the receipt. "Mr Hill. I hope to see you and your girlfriend again." Very soon.  
  
"I think I might go find her," Zack nodded. "Thanks."  
  
Antonio nodded and took the tray into the kitchen.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Jondy let out a muffled scream as soft, plastic string dug into her wrists, her face held against the wall. Then the handcuffs appeared and went around her wrists.  
  
It was late, around nine at night and her senses dulled from the beer. She'd come in for a glass of water and some aspirin. The glass lay shattered near her bare feet and the container of aspirin had spilt all over the kitchen floor.  
  
Julian had grabbed her and shoved her against the wall, trying her wrists together- plastic string hurt like a bitch to snap, and with handcuffs, she was stuck.  
  
Jason held her still as everything became quiet.  
  
"Let me go," she yelled, trying to alert someone to help her.  
  
"Keep quiet, Jondy," cooed Julian, holding up a syringe. "Just need to give you this…"  
  
Jondy kicked him in the leg and pulled from Jason's grip. Julian grabbed her shoulder and jabbed the syringe in her neck.  
  
Jondy froze; feeling drained all of a sudden. She felt Jason's arms hold her up.  
  
"Let her sleep the meds off – they will make her drowsy for about an hour, then we can prep her for transport," Julian ordered, throwing the syringe on the kitchen floor.  
  
Jason cut the string and undid the handcuffs. Jondy felt the world spin as Jason lay her one the lounge, letting her sleep…  
  
…She was jerked awake, disoriented a while later. Jason and Julian were on the balcony, eating. She stood up, realising they had left the handcuffs off and adjusted her eyesight – the smudges on their necks were barcodes. She swallowed and stood up – she had to run like hell.  
  
Creeping across the room, she lifted the phone and hit Zack's mobile phone number.  
  
*C'mon Zack, answer, * Jondy thought, holding the phone so tightly it cracked.  
  
She heard a noise on the other end, just as Julian ripped the phone from her ear and hit her so hard across the face she tumbled backwards. She leapt back to her feet, the broken glass from earlier cutting her feet up. She punched Julian as hard as she could, but…  
  
"Don't bother getting violent, Jondy," Jason said from the door. "The meds have drained your strength – it was a precaution we had to take."  
  
Jondy stood, watching both the Manticore soldiers. Not moving.  
  
She twisted and dashed to the door, trying to open it – stupid doorknob wouldn't twist.  
  
Just as the door opened, Julian grabbed a hold on her necklace and yanked her back, the silver chain snapping and tumbling to the floor.  
  
Her hands were pulled behind her and the handcuffs were slapped back on. Then Jason covered her face with a cloth.  
  
Jondy struggled and felt her senses grow even fuzzier. *Chloroform, * Jondy realised, as her vision grew black and her breathing became shallow. 


	6. Back Again

*What the **** happened? Where the hell am I am?* Jondy thought, her head feeling like it had been hit with a Mack truck. She tried to move her arms and legs, but they felt heavy.  
  
"You're awake, 210, excellent." Jondy froze, recognizing the voice. She felt cold all of a sudden. "Your head may feel a bit sore and you may feel a slight heaviness about your limbs, but otherwise you are completely in tact."  
  
"Who were they?" Jondy croaked.  
  
"Who? Julian and Jason?" Jondy opened one eye to see Renfro smirking at her. "I thought X5s were built with better memory than that!  
  
"You should remember, 210, some of the experiments we ran on you and your…your siblings," Renfro smiled in a patronizing way. "Completely severing limbs to reattach them, severing your spinal cords, and my personal favorite, bleeding you to death to refill your body. That one was incredibly tricky, mind you. Only two people ever managed to have that doe successfully. That was you, last time you visited us – a year ago – and, I believe the other one was X5-211…"  
  
//Jax glared at all three of them, growling in her throat. If Jondy had known how to cry, she would have. She had a chunk out of her arm, Zane had dislocated both his knee and his shoulder and Justin was covered in bite marks and bruises.  
  
"We need to knock her out," Justin said. "If we do that, Lydecker should let us out."  
  
"Watch her, Jondy," Zane advised. "Have you got anything sharp, Justin?"  
  
Lydecker noticed the X5s' mouths were moving, but he could not lip read and the cage was sound proof – but from the looks on the X5s faces', he knew they could hear the other three.  
  
"A double sided blade," Justin said. "Found it over there when Jax decided to throw me over there."  
  
The blade was ten inches long and had a chunk out of the point, as if it had been snapped off.  
  
"Don't kill her, Justin," Jondy said in a pathetic voice. "She's our sister."  
  
"Ben will be upset if you kill her in front of him," Zane reminded, standing in front of Jondy, as if to protect her.  
  
"I'll try and knock her out," Justin sighed. "But if I have to…" The knife glinted in the dull light.  
  
Jax crept closer to the three of them and leapt at Zane. Jondy squealed with fright and Zane fell over, fear all over his face.  
  
"Zane!" Jondy screamed, trying to pull Jax off him; Jax's leg dangling from where she had dislocated the knee and snapped the leg.  
  
Justin punched Jax in the face, her nose breaking and blood spattering everywhere… Jondy sidestepped as Jax fell backwards and knelt next to Zane – a few scratch marks on his face.  
  
Justin punched Jax's head and Jondy and Zane watched, too scared and injured to help.  
  
It was over too quickly for the X5s to really grasp what had happened. Justin lay in a heap, blood pooling from his stomach, the knife lying beside Jax, who's next appeared to be broken.  
  
Lydecker blinked.  
  
"Barracks, now!"  
  
Max stared back at Jondy, as Lydecker lead her and Zane up to the barracks.  
  
As they lay in bed (no infirmary for either Zane or Jondy) Ben sat up.  
  
"Justin has gone to the bad place," he said in a clear voice.  
  
Jondy sat up too, her arm in a make shift bandage. "No he hasn't, Ben he's gone to the good place, he has," she said. Zack slid out of bed and went to her side. Jondy had dark circles around her eyes and she was very pale.  
  
"She's in shock," Tinga added.  
  
"He's gone to the Good Place, hasn't he, Zack?" Jondy begged. Zane watched them all carefully.  
  
"I don't know," Zack said softly, looking closely at the wound.  
  
"Tinga?" Jondy begged. "Max?"  
  
Max looked up at her, frowning. "Justin killed Jax, Jondy, he went to the bad place."  
  
Jondy felt dampness on her cheeks. Everyone stared at her, as she sobbed; loud, hiccupy sobs. Zane went to her side and hugged her.  
  
"I promise you, Dee, he went to the Good Place," he whispered in her ear.//  
  
"Justin," Jondy murmured. "But I was a little girl when he died…"  
  
"Well, 210, we brought his dead body up here and pumped him full of blood and stitched him up and sent him to a different squadron of X5s – X5s you've never even seen," Renfro smirked. "The better squadron, 210.  
  
"You could've been one of those superior X5s, 210, all of the X5s that escaped could've made it there. And I promise you, this time, you will be part of that other squadron," Renfro walked towards the door. "I'm not stupid, 210, you won't escape this time."  
  
"Well, I escaped twice before, didn't I?" Jondy taunted. " C'mon, an X5 managed to escape two times?"  
  
"Third time unlucky," Renfro sneered.  
  
"Luck doesn't exist…" Jondy began.  
  
"Do you remember last time?" Renfro yelled. "Because, I promise you, it'll be worse this time around…you won't even remember your own name when I finish with you…"  
  
// The blood ran down her chin, as she sat huddled in a corner of a cell, her hair cut short and bruises marring her pale skin. She hadn't seen the sun in almost three weeks and she was having a hard time thinking clearly.  
  
"My name is Jondy…" she repeated the mantra over and over again, trying hard not to cry. Crying was a weakness, and weaknesses would make her crack. She'd become the super soldier they wanted her to be…X5-210…  
  
Jondy slumped in a corner, her eyes dull and the pain in her head worse than ever…  
  
…She lay on the backseat of Zack's truck – it smelt a bit like Zane, so Zack must've borrowed it, Jondy decided. Everything was fuzzy. I like fuzzy- ness, Jondy decided, as the truck stopped and Zack appeared at her side.  
  
"C'mon, Jondy, you awake?" he asked, smoothing her short hair away from her face.  
  
"Mmmhmmm," she murmured, struggling to sit up, but dizziness making her slip back into Zack's arms.  
  
"I'm sorry, Jondy, I was careless," Zack said softly, as he examined some of the wounds.  
  
Jondy began wheezing and Zack slid a oxygen mask over her face. A few seconds later…  
  
"What did you do, raid a hospital?" she asked, laughing.  
  
Which soon turned into crying… 


	7. Promise

*Authoress's Notes *: Two chapters in three days - I'm on a roll! I've got a hazy outline of where I'm going with this, and yes, I am writing a third one. It's just that this one put me through the wringer and back.  
  
AN2: Okay, I've noticed that I'm barely getting one review for every two chapters. Please review - even if it's a request to do you math homework, review! Just so I know people are reading this! Cause if they're not, I'll work on something else - maybe Catalyst, Tomb Raider or PissOff....I don't care what the review is about! Flame me if you want! :)  
  
Dedication: Jaz, Lexie, Krit, Zack, Marcus and Mia. These characters seem more real every day. I need a hobby...  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
  
  
Jondy felt numb when she woke up, not being able to move or even breathe.  
  
"Calm down, baby sister," came a vaguely familiar voice. "You are panicking."  
  
Jondy nodded and opened her eyes wider. "B-Brin?" she croaked. "Where am I?"  
  
"Back in our barracks, for the moment," Brin smiled at her. "You've been in reprogramming for the last 48 hours, so you should feel a bit of pain."  
  
Jondy didn't acknowledge this statement, but leant back into the pillows. "What did they do to me?" she asked, pushing her hair out of her eyes. It was longer now - as long as her shoulders.  
  
"Well, I am unsure, but I can do a word association test to see," Brin sat by Jondy's bed. "You know how this works? Say the first word that comes into your mind?"  
  
"Okay - family."  
  
"Loyalty."  
  
"Manticore."  
  
"Chimera."  
  
"Escape."  
  
"Evade."  
  
"Eva."  
  
"Dead."  
  
"Max."  
  
"Hate." Brin raised her eyebrows at this, but didn't comment.  
  
"Syl."  
  
"Krit."  
  
"Zack."  
  
"Love."  
  
Silence.  
  
"I'm not sure," Brin said, in a voice Jondy had never heard from her. "You seem normal."  
  
"I wanna go home, Brinny," Jondy whispered. "I feel sick."  
  
Brin bit her lip - Jondy's wide blue eyes pleading with her to help. She had a bad fever and Brin knew she'd have delusions that night. She was familiar with the drugs they used in the reprogramming section.  
  
"Sleep. Madam Renfro shall be in later and you will be moved to the infirmary. I shall see you there," Brin touched her sister's forehead and quickly left the barracks, reporting a bad headache to the nurse and sat in the infirmary, thinking.  
  
//"Jondy?" Brin appeared between the two beds. "Zane?"  
  
Both children sat up. "Yes Brinny?" Jondy's soft voice said. The chunk Jax had torn out of Jondy's arm had hurt her all day - she'd been eliminated in escape and evade instantly because she was in pain. Zane's shoulder had swelled up and his knee hurt. But Lydecker refused them any medication because they had disobeyed the rules.  
  
"I saw a nurse earlier," Brin whispered. "She gave me some stuff to make you feel better." A patch of sticky edged gauze and two aspirin for Jondy's arm, a length of medical tape for Zane's knee and two aspirin. "Take those with a mouthful of water," Brin remembered. "And don't let Colonel Lydecker see the bandages."  
  
Zane hugged her, with one arm and Jondy grinned at her.  
  
"Thank you, Brinny." Brin nodded and then crawled into bed with Jondy. "Max, Ben, Tinga, Eva and Zack are at the High Place. They think that Justin's gone to the Bad Place and you will too because Jax bit you."  
  
Jondy's eyes widen in fear.  
  
"Don't worry, Dee," Zane said sleepily, as he dozed off. "I'll protect you against the bad place. Promise."  
  
"Me too," Brin said. "I'll protect you too, Dee. Against the Bad Place."//  
  
Brin blinked. She could hear screams - they were Jondy's screams.  
  
//"Don't Ben! I promise I'm not a Nomaly! Leave me alone!"//  
  
Brin stood up very quickly and walked towards the labs.  
  
//"Brin! Brin!"//  
  
The screams were dying now, which worried Brin.  
  
//"Why didn't you help me, Brin? Ben hurt me."//  
  
"Leave my sister alone!" screamed Brin, running to the labs. Jondy lay back in the chair, a beam of red light in her eyes, blood running down her face and she was panicking.  
  
"Get her out of here!" yelled Renfro. "A week in solitary, Brin!"  
  
Brin punched the orderly who advanced on her. She loosened Jondy's restraints.  
  
"It's okay, baby sister, I'll protect you this time," she said, as she cradled Jondy's head in her lap, they on the floor. "I'll make sure you'll be okay this time, Dee. Not like last time when Ben got you."  
  
"Brinny?" Jondy murmured, the drugs slowly knocking her out. "Get Zack for me. Please. I need to tell him something."  
  
Renfro looked at the two sisters on the floor, quietly talking to each other. The name 'Ben' jumped out at her, and her lips twisted into something that would be known as a smile in some cultures.  
  
"Escort X5-494 here, immediently, soldier," she requested. "And get 50mg of something...calming for Brin here. And a pot of black coffee. We'll be here a long time." 


	8. Mouthing the Words

Mouthing the Words  
  
Jondy rested her head against the cell wall, curled up in a ball.  
  
"Her condition hasn't changed, ma'am," a doctor said. "Unresponsive, violent tendencies and hasn't reacted to her meds at all."  
  
Renfro gazed at the girl. She'd been here almost a week. After being 'introduced' to 494, she'd become so violent, that they had had to sedate her. Her sister, 'Brin', was still in solitary confinement, after attacking some orderlies.  
  
"Give her another week on this drug program," Renfro scribbled her signature on the authorization papers. "Then we'll start shock treatment. Also, place 734 on the three-day shock program today. Her loyalties are wavering."  
  
"Yes, ma'am."  
  
"Also – in the breeding lists – switch 650 with 210. I believe that arrangement may be beneifical."  
  
"But 650's breeding partner is 494…and we know 210's response to him," the doctor said.  
  
"By the time the breeding program begins, 210 won't even answer to her name," Renfro smirked. "And, if I'm correct, her white knight, 599 will waltz in here to save her. This time I'm getting both 210 and 599. No questions asked."  
  
"Yes, ma'am."  
  
"Fetch 210 80mg of psycho actives, Doctor. I'm going to check on 734."  
  
"Yes, ma'am."  
  
Jondy watched as the doctor and Renfro walked away from her cell – in the basement. She felt bruised and gritty – dressed in one of those bloody hospital gowns. Her hair needed redying, the natural colour was beginning to show through.  
  
She let out a shuddering sigh and stretched out a little. She was with the nomalies. Ben had been there. Her big brother Ben. But Maxie had murdered Ben in cold blood several moths before. Zack had told her, and Zack would never lie to her.  
  
She could hear the other nomalies crying out from their cells, and she curled back into a ball. She hadn't seen the sun in so long and you didn't get fed when you were on psychoactives…  
  
"Okay, 210," the nurse entered her cell, a soldier with a taser behind her. "I just need to give you this needle and then we'll leave you alone."  
  
Her voice was soothing and Jondy knew that fighting against them was pointless – she'd become a permanent member of the basement if she tried to fight against them.  
  
"My b-brother," she whispered. "493…I saw him earlier."  
  
The nurse frowned. "No you didn't 210, 493 has been dead almost six months."  
  
The soldier cleared his throat. "That was 494, 210. 493's twin brother."  
  
Jondy tried to nod, but her limbs were too heavy and her head was spinning. "O-okay."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Zack pulled up in front of Zane's place- he'd just moved in and agreed to accompany Zack to find Jondy.  
  
"I don't exactly know why you're bothering Zack," Zane said. "Jondy is hardly helpless."  
  
"I got a call almost a week ago," Zack said. "From an apartment around here. I called to find out who exactly it was – because they used my direct line – and they said a girl named Jordan Hanover was living here but she hadn't been there for a few days."  
  
"What do you think happened?" Zane asked, suddenly concerned.  
  
"Manticore, again."  
  
"Again? What the hell are you talking about?" Zane demanded, glaring at Zack.  
  
"Last year…before I found Maxie…" Zack said, clutching the steering wheel. "It was my fault and she got caught. She got dragged back there and taken to psy-ops and I got her out. She's like a magnet to Manticore."  
  
Zane nodded. "I kinda worked that out, with everything that's going on."  
  
"This is it – first floor." Zack pulled up in front of some second-rate apartment building. Zack grabbed a gun, hoping her wouldn't be forced to use it…  
  
What he found was the apartment in shambles – broken glass, blood smear on the floor, an empty syringe, aspirin and trytrophan spilt all over the floor, the phone lying in a pile of twisted plastic and wires and Jondy's necklace, the chain broken.  
  
Zack swallowed hard, and picked up the necklace. "I…This is…Manticore.  
  
Zane nodded. "We should probably straighten this place up or the cops will be called in."  
  
Zack nodded and saw something outside, on the verandah table. He slid out the backdoor and picked it up. A wallet. X soldiers weren't good at keeping track of personal things like cell phones or wallets on missions.  
  
"Zane!" Zack called out, flipping open the wallet to reveal a passport, a credit card, a licence, a sector pass and a library card all in the name of Mr Jason Renfro. "I know that face…do you recognize him from somewhere?"  
  
Zane took the wallet and gazed at the picture. "Fuck. Get the others on the phone. Tell them we'll meet in Seattle tomorrow morning," Zane ordered, having gone slightly pale.  
  
"Zane." Zack snapped.  
  
"Zack, that's Justin. X5-211. Jondy's twin. Remember? The first time any of us cried," Zane said. "Remember? You all said he went to the Bad Place."  
  
Zack's eyes widened. "I guess we were right – he did go to the Bad Place." 


	9. Manticore

AN: I know, I'm a terribly slack update-r. It's been a year since I updated this, but I'm currently wading through my pile of WIPs so I can start posting my two novellas without anything hanging over my head.  
  
I hope you like this, and please review; I'm looking for constructive criticism.  
  
---  
  
Jondy sat in her cell, against the wall. Renfro had given her a reprieve from Psy-Ops and the basement.   
  
Jondy ran her fingers through her tangled hair and shifted uncomfortably. There were cuts and bruises marring her face and arms. Dirt and grime were smeared across her face, tear tracks evident. Her left knee was swollen and Jondy suspected her night vision was permanently damaged.   
  
She sniffed again, standing up to curl up on her bunk. The cells were horrible. All Jondy could see stretching before her was Manticore. No such thing as third time lucky. She knew that. No one knew where she was and no one would find her.   
  
There had to be a way out of here. Jondy sat up. There had to be. No way in hell was she staying here with Renfro. She loved Brin, but. . . Jondy wasn't staying. She knew she wouldn't survive another day in this hell hole.   
  
Slipping to the floor, Jondy pushed her bunk up. One of the bricks was worn away and looser than the others. She began trying to pull it out, or just loosen it up some more so she could pull it out and maybe see what was down there. Anything to get out of this cell . . .sleeping wasn't an option after Psy-Ops, the nightmares were too graphic for her to cope with. . .  
  
The door to her cell swung open, and Jondy jumped to her feet. There was Ben. . .  
  
"Ben?" Jondy asked softly, flipping her blonde hair from her eyes.  
  
"What?" The Ben Guy looked confused, as he checked her out. *Not bad, shame she's a bit beat up. . .*  
  
"You look like. . .someone I used to know," Jondy said softly.  
  
"Sorry 210, my designation's 494," he shrugged.  
  
Jondy's eyes widened. "His was 493. You two must've been cloned," she said, shocked.   
  
  
  
X5-494 nodded. "493...Your fellow traitor. He went psycho."  
  
"How would you know anything about Ben?" Jondy spat, his death still hurting her.  
  
"I know that because of him I had to spend six months in psy-ops. They wanted to make sure it wasn't genetic. Looks like ten years in the world finally got to him.," X5-494 said snidely.  
  
"It was this place that screwed him up. The Outside kept him with us for longer," Jondy retorted.  
  
X5-494 shrugged. "Whatever. Well, let's get this over with, huh?" Jondy stared at him as her removed his shirt - he wasn't bad looking - in fact, if she was in heat, he was great, but. . .  
  
"What are you doing?" Jondy asked incuriously.  
  
X5-494 looked up. "We've been paired off. I'm your breeding partner."  
  
Jondy froze, gaping at him. "My. . .what? "  
  
"We're supposed to copulate every night until you get pregnant," 494 explained, slowly.  
  
"That's sick!" Jondy said. "Revolting! We're not animals is some kind of zoo!"  
  
X5-494 shrugged. "Those are the orders, 21. Take off your clothes and lets get this over with."  
  
"Get. Out. Of. My. Cell. Now," Jondy said in a low, furious voice.  
  
"We've got our orders," 494 said, grabbing Jondy's arm. With a spin-kick, 494 jerked back.  
  
"What was that?" he asked, looking surprised.  
  
"The only contact you and I are going to have," Jondy snapped. "I cannot believe you would think . . ."  
  
"You think I wanted this assignment?" 494 retorted. "You've been out in the filth for ten years! I could catch something!"  
  
"As long as we both feel the same way," Jondy said, turning her back on 494. And caught a guard peering through the cell door window.  
  
"Don't worry," Jondy said sarcastically. "Dirty talk. Always gets me in the mood."  
  
The guard ignored Jondy, except to give her an appraising look, and turned to X5-494."You got something for me?"  
  
"Yeah," 494 said, handing the guard a package of something. The guard handed him a wad of money. Jondy watched the exchange with shock. 494 looked up at the guard. "Do me a favour - give these to Vic. Tell him he can pay me later. " 494 handed the guard some cigars.  
  
The guard looked at the cigars. "No problem."  
  
X5-494 smiled. "Thanks. "  
  
The guard left the cell window and continued on down the hallway. 494 turned around, and pulled out his wallet, to slip the money into his very fat wallet. Jondy had never seen so much money at once.  
  
X5-494 caught Jondy staring. "He's got a thing for those vitamins they make us pop every morning."  
  
"I'm not even gonna ask about the cigars.," Jondy said, looking shell shocked.  
  
X5-494 shrugged. "I got a few things working. Listen, I've got an hour to kill before I head back to the barracks. Why don't you wake me up at 0100?" And he pulled down the bunk down, and lay down on it, closing his eyes. Jondy stared at 494 and felt a suddenly longing for Ben, for Zack and his apartment, to be asleep in Zack's arms, wrapped in one of Zack's shirts. . . A sob caught in Jondy's throat, as she sat on the floor, trying not to cry.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Zack and Zane gazed at all the I.D.s in the wallet. "I don't understand how Justin could be alive," Zack said, angrily. "We saw Jax kill him. The injuries were too much for even him to survive."  
  
"Manticore created us, Zack. We can't put anything past them. Lets say that Justin survived and was kept from our unit. . .and he's got Jondy," Zane said, gripping Jondy's necklace tightly.   
  
"He wouldn't remember her as his twin. They are reprogrammed. The only thing Manticore hasn't successfully managed is to reprogram Brin completely. She'll be brainwashed, but it wears off really fast. When Jondy went back, she was a wreck. Psy-Ops is deadly technology. Used often enough, it can prove to be fatal," Zack said, slamming his fist onto the table.  
  
Zane caught the look in Zack's eyes. It was fear.   
  
"You really love Jondy, don't you?" Zane asked.  
  
Zack looked away. And nodded. "Emotional fucking weakness, Jondy is. I can't do this without her. And she can't stay in Manticore again, Zane. She's been back once already, god damn it. They'll destroy her."  
  
Zane caught the urgency in Zack's voice. "She. . .they hurt her bad, last time, didn't they?" Zane asked softly.  
  
Zack nodded. "Okay, get the others to Seattle. We need fire power. We go in, we blow up Manticore and we get Jondy out."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Jondy stared straight ahead. She knew she looked like crap - pale and exhausted and spending the entire night crying hadn't helped her. She was getting seizures again, damnit. But Renfro had made all the X5s in the breeding program come out here from a 'review'.  
  
They stood in a line, facing forwards, as Renfro paraded up and down the line, demanding 'results' from each couple.  
  
  
  
"Report," Renfro snapped at a couple.  
  
"Successful copulation with X5-392, ma'am!" the male X5 said.  
  
"Excellent," Renfro nodded, moving to the couple before Jondy and 494. "Report. "  
  
"Copulation was unsuccessful, ma'am," the female X5 said.  
  
"Explain," Renfro said coolly.  
  
"X5-698 failed to achieve minimum mission requirements, ma'am," the female X5 said.  
  
Jondy winced. *That was a bit harsh. Talk about public humiliation.*  
  
Two guards came up and dragged X5-698 away from the others. Jondy paled slightly.  
  
Renfro moved onto Jondy and 494, smirking. "Report."  
  
494 thought fast. . .  
  
"Successful copulation between myself and X5-210, ma'am. Twice," he said, with a smug tone.  
  
"Excellent, 494, 210. What would you 599 say now, 210?"  
  
Jondy decided that staring blankly ahead. Because if she even thought about what Renfro had said, she'd kill her.   
  
Another day of Psy-Ops, of training and of tests in the labs. Jondy couldn't take much more of this. Her head span, everything felt like it was breaking, ending. The slow monotone of, "X5-210" was hammering into her brain. It was almost like her life before now was in colour - pastel, watercolour shades … and this was fading the colour away to watery grey.   
  
Lying on her pallet, Jondy stared at the floor. Grey concrete stretching to the four walls.   
  
And there was something shiny under her bed. Jondy rolled off, landing in a crouch, reaching for it. Maybe half a nail file, once? Or a blade? It was reasonably small, and blunt. But Jondy gazed at it, almost willing it to give her an idea.   
  
---  
  
The idea didn't come till the next morning, and it wasn't turned into a plan until the next night. There was a brick under her bed, and it was wearing away. Jondy could reach under there, and chip away at the concrete holding the bricks in place. Slow process …  
  
Hiding the fact she was trying to burrow out of Manticore the first two nights was hard. But Alec was happy to sleep on her bed while Jondy tried to shift the brick from the wall.  
  
It was the third night that Jondy finally budged the brick. The space left was about the same size as Jondy and the second Alec left her cell, Jondy slipped through it.  
  
She was in the basement. It was dark, even for Jondy. Straightening up, she looked around. Barred windows, boxes and crates…  
  
A figure emerged from the shadows, growling and barking at her.  
  
"Whoa," Jondy whispered, stepping backwards as the Nomalie snapped at her.  
  
_____  
  
AN: I know, short chapter. But I know exactly where this fic is going and there are about two/three more chapters of this to go. Please review, just to let me know someone is still reading this… 


	10. Starting Something

AN: A lot of dialogue in this chapter you may recognise as a variation from "Designate This." Basically, from this chapter onwards, is very Alternate "Designate This," and yeah.   
  
Thank you so much to la-angele321 and Rose. Rose, this won't be a Jondy/Alec fic. Jondy/Zack is pretty much all I write (except Syl/Krit …).  
  
---  
  
As Jondy faced off with the Nomalie, she held her hands up. It was at least 6"5 and Jondy knew that if it decided to attack her, she wouldn't stand a chance, he was just too big…  
  
"Relax, big fella," Jondy said softly, trying to inch away from the wall.  
  
The Nomalie paused. "You relax, little fella," It said.  
  
"Whoa, you can talk," Jondy said, her arms falling to her sides.  
  
"Whoa," It echoed. "Whoa."  
  
"Sorry. I just haven't seen a Nomalie up close before," Jondy said, staring at him. "What did they do? Add to much canine to your cocktail, or something?"  
  
The Nomalie stared at her for a second, and then sniffed the air. "Cat. Cat in your cocktail."  
  
"Yeah," Jondy shrugged. "Hope you want hold it against me or anything."  
  
The Nomalie growled at her, baring his teeth.   
  
"I totally dig your teeth. Can I have a look?" Jondy took a step closer. The Nomalie glared at her for a second before snapping at her. "Um, okay, it's okay! I can see them from a distance! Distance is good. Distance means less blood shed…"  
  
"You're X5," the Nomalie growled at her.  
  
"Yeah. Jondy."  
  
"Jondy… Jon-dy. Did Father name you, Jon-dy?"  
  
"Nope. My brother did," Jondy said, looking around the basement.  
  
"Father named me," the Nomalie said almost proudly. "Joshua."  
  
"You mean Lydecker?" Jondy asked, examining a crate.  
  
"No," Joshua said with force. "Father - Sandman."  
  
"Oh," Jondy said, looking at Joshua. "Sandman named you."  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Um, okay!" Jondy nodded. "Sandman. You guys must sleep a lot, huh?"  
  
Joshua didn't reply. He was peering through a small hole in the wall. "Guard." Jondy went silent. "Guard come."  
  
Jondy blinked. "Do they know you're down here?" she whispered.  
  
"No," Joshua replied.  
  
"Well, where's this Sandman dude?" Jondy asked, leaning on a box.  
  
"Left me here. Here I am," Joshua replied.  
  
"What?" Jondy stared at Joshua. "He just left you here, in this basement?"  
  
Joshua nodded once. "Made me, left me. True enough."  
  
"That's pretty whacked out," Jondy shrugged. "But since when have Manticore employees ever been model citizens?"  
  
"He made us all. I was first--special. Then more like me...more like you...more people -up there people," Joshua gestured at the ceiling. "Father lost in all the people. I'm here, waiting."  
  
"Well," Jondy said after a pause. "It's a shame you didn't get an ocean view room. Like, a window? So I can get out of here."  
  
"Ah, wait," Joshua replied, looking back through the hole and opening a panel underneath and smiled at Jondy, motioning for her to follow him.  
  
As Jondy followed Joshua down a dimly lit basement hallway, they passed multiple doors with barred windows; caging different Nomalies. Jondy flinched, remembering some from her childhood…  
  
"Looks like that father of your was a busy guy," Jondy said softly.  
  
"Some like me… some not so good," Joshua replied. Jondy peered into one cage, as something inside gave a groan.  
  
Joshua began barking at him.  
  
"Hungry," Joshua explained to Jondy.  
  
"Well, maybe they should be fed by someone," Jondy said.  
  
"They do … sometimes. I do sometimes," Joshua said, as they arrived in a room with storage crates are piled up by the wall, some cans balanced on top. Joshua lent over, pulling the cans away to reveal a barred window.  
  
"Ocean view," Joshua told Jondy. Jondy nodded, standing on her toes to tug at the bars.  
  
"This could take a while," Jondy sighed. "Okay with you if this becomes my exit?"  
  
"Uh-uh. No exit. X7s in the forest," Joshua warned.  
  
"How many?" Jondy asked, thoughtfully.  
  
"One," Joshua said, as they both gazed out the window.  
  
"Yeah, I see him. It doesn't matter, I can take him," Jondy said.  
  
"Uh-uh," Joshua shook his head.  
  
"There's only one," Jondy said sceptically.  
  
"Uh-uh. Lots of one," Joshua pointed as more X7s appeared from the forest … X7 clones.  
  
"Oooh. Clones. Lots of one. I get it," Jondy replied.  
  
"Uh-huh. Pretty whacked," Joshua said.  
  
The X7s began forming two straight lines, standing perfectly still.  
  
"What are they doing?" Jondy asked softly.  
  
"Talking," Joshua said.  
  
"But I don't hear anything," Jondy replied, confused.  
  
"I do."  
  
"Huh. Must be in the ultrasonic range or something," Jondy shrugged.  
  
"Bat in their cocktail," Joshua explained.  
  
The X7s suddenly scattered in all directions and Jondy looked up at the sky. "Damn. Sun's almost up. I gotta go. I'll be back tomorrow, Joshua. Thanks!"  
  
---  
  
Zack and Zane stood in front of the others, in Logan's penthouse, looking grim.  
  
Zack swallowed, his mouth feeling dry. "Jondy's back at Manticore."  
  
Max leapt to her feet. "What?" she said, in a deadly voice.  
  
"They recaptured her," Zane interjected. "And we know who."  
  
"Manticore," Syl said. "You said that already."  
  
"No, we mean exactly who the soldiers were, that grabbed her," Zack managed, a distant expression on his face.  
  
"And that matters how?" Max snapped.  
  
"It was Justin," Zane retorted.  
  
Silence.  
  
"Justin?" Tinga whispered.   
  
Krit shrugged. "Sometimes you've just got to be impressed with what Manticore managed to do. Bringing a kid back from the dead is up there on the Impressive Things To Do list."  
  
"We need to get Jondy out of there," Max said firmly.  
  
"Duh," Syl replied.   
  
"A raid on Manticore?" Logan asked doubtfully, unable to keep quiet any longer.  
  
"Hell yes," Zack grunted.   
  
---  
  
Wow. This is almost writing itself. Please review, just so I know someone is still reading thi 


	11. Crashing Down

AN: This is the final chapter of this story. I've had a wonderful time writing this fic and I want to thank Jacey for beta reading  
  
the final chapter, JZShiri for endless support and to la-angele321, Rose and agmgdafan for reading this :) Thank you so much!  
  
Please read and review:)  
  
---  
  
Jondy scrambled from the hole in her wall. Kneeling on the floor, she hastily brushed the dust from her hair and face.  
  
"Forgot we had a date?" Alec was leaning against the door, with a smirk on his face.  
  
"No. I repressed," Jondy retorted. "So when did the storm troopers bust in?"  
  
"Don't worry. I have set off the alarm. Yet," Alec replied, a condescending smirk across his face.  
  
"Why not?" Jondy asked, jamming the brick back in place.  
  
"I'm not looking for trouble. What you do is your own business," Alec shrugged, straightening. But what I don't get is why do you want out of here so much? You've got a roof over your head, plenty to eat...which is more than you can say about most people out there."  
  
"Think again," Jondy retorted. "Manticore aren't keeping you here out of the goodness of their heart. They are using you. Manticore are the bad guys in this."  
  
"No body is using me," Alec retorted, shoving Jondy.   
  
"Denial ain't just a river in Egypt," Jondy said, shaking her head. "If you aren't one of us, then you're one of them."  
  
"Who is "us"?" Alec asked, standing very close to her.  
  
"The good guys," Jondy replied, crossing her arms over her chest.  
  
"And who am I?"   
  
"The bad guy that I'll reform," Jondy smiled with saccharine sweetness. "Kiss me and you'll never kiss anything again."  
  
Alec took a step back. "Fine. Whatever you want. Did you ever think that maybe you're the bad guy in all of this, 210? Maybe Manticore are the good guys?"  
  
"Alec," Jondy asked. "How many people have you killed?"  
  
Alec stared at her.   
  
"Normal people - mothers, fathers, daughters, friends … they aren't meant to die. Children aren't meant to die," Jondy replied. "Have you ever loved anyone, Alec? And then they died and all you can think about is how they'll never be there ever again and you'll never ever see them again?"   
  
Alec looked at the floor.  
  
"I rest my case," Jondy said softly.  
  
Alec just shot her an angry glare and left the cell.  
  
---  
  
"So, how are we going to do this?" Tinga asked, as Zack looked over the weapons they'd managed to get.  
  
"We go in. Syl and Krit will disable the main generators, Max and I will go in via the north entrance," Zack replied. "Zane and Tinga will cover us. Any questions?"  
  
"Not a single thought," Syl replied angelically.  
  
"What if we run into Justin in there?" Krit asked.  
  
"Shoot to kill," Zane replied instantly. "Anyone we left behind is dead. They were reprogrammed."  
  
"But maybe we can help them," Max said.  
  
"Not at the risk of our lives," Zack replied forcibly. "You are ordered to shoot to kill, Max."  
  
Max frowned.  
  
"I've hacked the security cameras," Logan called from his computer.   
  
"I need Jondy's exact location," Zack called back, loading a gun.  
  
"What if they've already reprogrammed her, Zack?" Tinga asked softly.  
  
Zack paused. "Shoot to kill," he replied softly.  
  
"But it's Jondy," Krit stood up, a glare on his face.  
  
"Shoot to wound then," Zack ran his fingers through his hair, looking drained. "Jondy wouldn't survive the reprogramming process again, and on the off chance she did … it'd break her if we tried to help her.  
  
Max looked at the ground, and silence followed.  
  
----  
  
Jondy lay on her pallet, watching the ceiling. If she watched the ceiling, she didn't have to watch the floor. The floor where there were rats and cockroaches; two things Jondy could absolutely not abide by. She may have been a multi-million-dollar killing machine, but rats still creeped her out.  
  
Jondy shuddered and closed her eyes, trying to calm down. Some days, she thought maybe she'd been okay, maybe everything would just resolve itself somehow. And days like today - more psy-ops - made her want to just die. She couldn't take another thing.   
  
It was past midnight already, Jondy knew. She'd woken up to a rat on her stomach. Just the idea made her nauseous, and knew she wouldn't be able to sleep while she was shut up in this rat-infested cell. She wanted to go home to showers, and soft, clean apartments, and pizza.  
  
And Zack.  
  
Jondy dismissed that thought. 'You aren't a teenager anymore, Jondy,' she berated herself. 'Zack isn't going to bail you out of this. You stuffed up, you fix it.'  
  
Jondy sat up, the moonlight shining directly onto her face. Her face had little cuts all around her hair line, and her left check had a long scratch down it, from her temple, to her chin. Bruises, cuts, scrapes, lacerations … all over her body. Jondy bit her lip.  
  
And Brin. She hadn't seen Brin in days and she hated herself for that; Brin had been taken away. Brin was probably dead and gone and it was all Jondy's fault.  
  
"201."  
  
Jondy looked up. Alec stood in the door way, watching her.  
  
"My designation is 210," Jondy replied haughtily, wiping the tears off her face.  
  
"My mistake," Alec smirked. "Come on; I'll show you where the rat poison is."  
  
Jondy blinked and climbed off her pallet, mentally shrugging. If Alec wanted to be nice to her, she'd accept that. And when he turned on her, she'd kick his ass.   
  
Alec punched in the security code to Jondy's cell door and it slid open.   
  
"How do you know the security codes?" Jondy asked, hands on her hips.  
  
"I caught one of the lab techs having a go at one of the X5 girls," Alec shrugged, a smirk on his face. "In exchange for me to not go to Renfro, he gave me the codes to all cells - yours happens to be 210509."  
  
"How original of them," Jondy replied. "And what do you mean a 'lab tech having a go at an X5...'" At Alec's 'duh' look, she blinked. "Oh. Oh!"  
  
"See, you're smarter than you look," Alec replied as they walked along the hallway.  
  
"Bite me," Jondy replied angelically. "Where is everyone?"  
  
Alec looked around. "Who knows. Who cares. I need to get you some rat poison."  
  
Jondy nodded, and they continued along the hall. That smelt funny.  
  
"What is that?" Jondy made a face.  
  
"X6-890 and…" Alec sniffed the air. "Either petroleum or gasoline. Possibly both. Someone's used air freshener."  
  
"X6-890?" Jondy asked, going grey as they got closer to 890's cell.  
  
"Yes. 210, that is the smell of a decomposing body," Alec clapped her on the shoulder. "And if you turn grey at the smell, I won't tell you why he's dead."  
  
Jondy gave Alec a suspicious look.  
  
"It involved napalm, a hand grenade and the peeling back of skin," Alec summarized.  
  
Jondy felt herself turn green.  
  
"Toldja so."  
  
Jondy punched him on the arm. Before he could retaliate, Jondy slipped on something, toppling into Alec's arms, sending him sliding too. They both ended up in an ungraceful heap on the slippery lino.  
  
"What the hell?" Jondy asked, trying to wipe the wet stuff off her hands, onto her pants.   
  
"It's petrol," Alec said, sniffing his hands.  
  
"Very good Einstein," Jondy rolled her eyes. "I meant, 'What the hell is petrol doing on the floor of a Manticore hallway'."  
  
Alec pointed up. "The pipe is leaking."  
  
Jondy looked up and saw a pipe in the roof steadily dripping petrol onto the floor.  
  
"What's that pipe for?" Jondy asked, a growing sense of unease over taking her.  
  
"Emergency water supply," Alec said, standing up.  
  
Jondy stood up, feeling herself go pale. "They wouldn't."  
  
"Wouldn't what?" Alec asked.  
  
"Either I've watched way too many crappy movies in my lifetime, or Manticore…" Jondy closed her eyes and took a breath. "Think Alec. What does petrol do?"  
  
"Fuels cars and burns stuff. And beauty pageant contestants use petroleum for something, right?" Alec asked.  
  
"Do I look like someone who follows the comings and goings of beauty pageants?" Jondy snapped. "Burns. Highly flammable, okay?"  
  
"Your point, 210?" Alec demanded.  
  
"A highly flammable liquid in the Emergency pipes. Those emergency pipes are in case of a *fire*," Jondy said slowly.  
  
Alec blinked, his eyes widening. "Oh…"  
  
Jondy looked around. Everything was still. No guards were on this level.   
  
"It's just a training thing, 210," Alec shrugged, relaxing. "To see how fast we think."  
  
Jondy crossed her arms over her chest and was about to reply when alarms began sounding. All of a sudden, Alec didn't look very confident. In fact, he looked shocked.  
  
"What the hell?"  
  
----  
  
Zack looked around the penthouse. They had all the weapons packed into a false bottom in a van Zane had tracked down.  
  
"Zack," Logan came out of the kitchen. "I just had an idea."  
  
"What?" Zack half grunted at him.  
  
"When you get into position, I send out an Eyes Only broadcast, revealing Manticore. To distract them," Logan said confidently.  
  
Zack blinked. Everyone else looked up.  
  
----  
  
"What is that alarm for?" Jondy asked, as Alec looked around, an uneasy look on his face.  
  
"They're locking down the cells," Alec said.  
  
Jondy felt herself go silent, and then stood in the dark, silent, listening as locks slid into place and every single transgenic in Manticore was put in a cage, like an animal.  
  
"You can unlock them though; you have the security codes," Jondy said in a low voice.  
  
"No. Not the main one," Alec said. "Vic was killed before they installed the lock-down system."  
  
Before Jondy could reply, another alarm burst into life.  
  
"The fire alarm," they both said at the same time.  
  
"Shit," Alec said. "Shit, shit, shit. What the fuck are we going to do? We're the only transgenics that aren't locked up. They're trying to kill us!"  
  
"No shit," Jondy said, sounding a lot more calm than she felt. "And no, we're not."  
  
"What do you mean? They locked down the cells!" Alec's voice was reaching a pitch only dogs and whales could hear.  
  
"The Nomalies in the basement," Jondy said clearly. Before they could move, a thin trail of smoke caught their attention. They could hear other transgenics calling for help, but Jondy tried to block the confused sounding voices out.   
  
"We've got bigger problems than that," Alec said, as smoke began filling the hallway.  
  
"And that is what?" Jondy snapped. "We haven't been given direct orders? This is not the time to go spitting out Manticore propaganda…!"  
  
"No," Alec interrupted. "Our clothes have petrol all over them. We get too close to the flames and we'll be incinerated."  
  
Jondy paled slightly. "Shit."  
  
"Exactly," Alec replied. "So, what do we do?"  
  
"Why do I have to give the orders?" Jondy threw up her hands.  
  
"Why should I?" Alec retorted. "Besides, you're the control freak."  
  
"I am not! And you've got more training than I do," Jondy protested.  
  
"You were the SIC of your unit," Alec said. "And the fire is getting closer."  
  
"Fine!" Jondy snapped. "Go to the control centre and try and disconnect the electricity and the lock-down system? I'm going to go and get help."  
  
"Jondy!" Alec said exasperated, as she headed for the basement door. "The closest town is 12km away!"  
  
Jondy rolled her eyes. "If I was going to go to town, which I'm not, what would I say? 'Hi, my name's Jondy and I've been help captive in the genetic engineering slash secret military facility 12km up the road and they've tried to barbeque us. Mind bringing up some water and, oh, maybe some marshmallows we can roast after you help me?'"  
  
Alec blinked.   
  
Jondy rolled her eyes and went down the basement door.  
  
---  
  
"Logan, it won't work!" Zack yelled. "All we need is for something to go wrong, and they kill Jondy. Because they aren't completely stupid - they'll know Jondy is the reason you're revealing Manticore!"  
  
"I'm not doing it for Jondy!" Logan yelled back. "Or you! I'm doing it for Max!"  
  
"We need to go," Zane broke in. "Now."  
  
----  
  
Jondy ran down the hallway in the basement. "Joshua!" she called. "Joshua, it's Jondy, I need you're help!"  
  
The other Nomalies screeched and roared and made Nomalie-noises. Damnit, damnit, where the hell was Joshua?  
  
"Joshua, there's a fire. I need your help!" Jondy yelled, getting frustrated. "Please, Joshua!"  
  
"You didn't come and visit Joshua last night," a voice came. Joshua. "Joshua isn't going to help Jondy."  
  
"Please Joshua!" Jondy yelled some more, not knowing where he would be and not daring enough to poke her face into the shadows. "I thought you were my friend!"  
  
'Very dramatic, Jondy,' she mentally told herself. 'Day-time soap opera much?'  
  
Silence.  
  
Jondy turned around and left. They were just monsters. Nothing else. Monsters. Sad monsters.   
  
---  
  
Alec arrived at the control centre and froze. Renfro was there, with a team of guards.  
  
"… I want a firing squad lined up outside the perimeter and all escapees disposed of," Renfro was saying, putting files and disks in her briefcase. "I want no survivors."  
  
Alec stared. This wasn't happening. Manticore took care of it's own. This wasn't happening.  
  
"Dismissed," Renfro said. Before Alec could refocus long enough to hide, the door swung open and the guards saw him. Alec stared at them.  
  
"Hello boys," Alec said. One of them moved to grab his gun from his holster. "Don't… or I'll have to hand you your spleen."  
  
Guns were cocked and aimed.   
  
"Sorry we couldn't do business," Alec retorted.  
  
----  
  
Jondy was at a loss of what to do. Half of the transgenic were already dead, burnt to death. The building was burning fast, she had petrol all over her clothes and Alec was no where to be found.  
  
And Joshua was a lost cause. But then, he was only a Nomalie, it didn't matter.   
  
Jondy wished she didn't care about what happened to Joshua.  
  
Brin. That train of thought caught her attention. She had to find Brin. Brin couldn't be dead, she was always there. Jondy span on her heal, racing towards the Psy-Ops labs, praying that they hadn't already been incinerated.  
  
Where the hell was Alec?  
  
---  
  
"Holy crap," were the first words out of Krit's mouth as Zane pulled the stolen van up outside Manticore perimeter. They all climbed out of the van, their eyes fixated on the scene that lay before them.  
  
Manticore was going up in flames. Zack had never really understood the phrasing of that statement until now. The windows were shattered from the heat, yells from the transgenics stuck inside echoed out.  
  
And a firing squad was lined up, the staccato machine gun firing echoing out every time one of the guards saw movement within the burning building.  
  
"What should we do, Zack?" Tinga asked softly.  
  
Zack swallowed hard and looked around. He could smell the burning flesh of the transgenics who had already burnt alive in the building. He could make out the forms of at least fifty guards acting as the firing squad. Jondy, and Brin, were still inside of that building … if they were still alive.  
  
"We wait," Zack said, sounding more confident than he felt. "We wait and then look for survivors."  
  
Syl and Max exchanged looks behind his back. "Zack, Jondy…" Syl began softly.  
  
Zack sent her a murderous look. "We wait."  
  
---   
  
Jondy could hear things. The screams of the other transgenics as they were burnt to death. The crumbling of the building, the shattering of the windows and the guns shots killing any transgenics that had managed to get out of their cell. And the fire was getting closer.  
  
"Brin?" Jondy called out. "Brinny, are you here?"  
  
Psy Ops was still. Worse than still. Jondy closed her eyes and took a step into the room. And wanted to scream out.  
  
How could they… how… Brin… Brin… how …  
  
Jondy felt herself slide to the floor only second before the roof came crashing down.  
  
---  
  
Alec knew he was stuck. The place was about to come down on them all. The control centre was a lost cause. The fire had spread too much and Alec didn't like his chances against the firing squad.  
  
So the basement was his last option. Even if he could just hide down there till the firing squad got bored.  
  
He swung open the basement door, half hoping to see Jondy down there, with some sort of plan. Nothing.  
  
The basement door swung shut on him, and Alec managed to jam it. At least no one could double check the basement if the door was jammed.  
  
Alec turned around and stared.  
  
"Whoa."  
  
---  
  
Hours had passed. The firing squad had gone. Zack sat on the hill, watching the still smoking building. Max rested her hand on his shoulder. He hadn't said a word, moved a muscle since the roof had caved in.  
  
"Move out," Zack suddenly snapped, feeling tired, drained… lost.  
  
"What?" Krit looked shocked.  
  
"It's over," Zack said, looking over his shoulder. "I love you Jondy."  
  
-- The End --  
  
AN: Okay, before you all kill me for not giving you a nice ending with closure, there is a sequel. Yes, I promise. It will be titled  
  
"A Family Affair: Book Three". :D I hope you enjoyed this and I hope you'll read the final part in this trilogy. Please  
  
review, just so I know that someone is still reading this and interested in knowing what happens in Book 3 :) 


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